The Mechanical Era

Mr. Roy picks up the larger hourglass and turns it upside-down. The sand slowly fell from the top glass to the bottom. Little by little, the bottom grew, while the top shrunk. Marco could not help but eye the hourglass for a few seconds before moving his eyes to the blackboard.

She appeared to have grabbed a piece of chalk and started to write down all 26 letters of the alphabet. It was separated into 6 invisible columns, along with 4 full rows and 1 other row that took the final two letters. The letters themselves were similar and worked like the English alphabet, but there were a few differences with the way they are drawn.

B is a 3, O has a dot in the middle, R has a half A attached on the left side, and S has a 45° line attaching the top end to the bottom end. There are some other alterations to it, but these are the most noticeable.

Mrs. Roy then takes out a stick from her leather handbag. It had a leather handle with a pointy tip. She placed used it to select the first letter of the alphabet and turned to the class with a smile.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ "Alright class, repeat after me." she went on to pronounce the letter. Everyone, including Marco, followed. She repeated a few times and then moved on to the next letter.

They all repeated the letter, over and over again. She then moved on to the next letter and have them repeat that for 2 minutes. Mrs. Roy then came back to the previous letter and got the students to speak it once again.

The students manage to successfully repeat it, which made Mrs. Roy smile. She checks the hourglass once a few times to see whether it was finished. Once it was, she flips it again and continues with the class.

She manages to teach them how to pronounce the first row of letters. The students, with great success, manage to recognize it somewhat accurately. By the time they were done with the third row, the hourglass was finished once again. This time, she flipped the smaller hourglass on its head and continued with the class.

After grabbing a piece of cloth, she erases the first row of letters and writes one of them randomly. She first writes 3 and picks one student to read them out loud. She then erases the letter and moves on to another one. Once a student answers, Mrs. Roy does not correct them however, just keeps in mind who said what.

She continues to do this until the smaller hourglass finishes. Only then, she repeats the words out loud once again, allowing the students to correct themselves once again. Once she is done with the lecturing, she places her stick down on the table.

"Alright students, we have successfully finished our first 25-minute period. You will all get a 5-minute break to talk to each other and rest. Just make sure you don't leave the classroom unless you need to. Just make sure to inform me beforehand." she said.

The school uses a technique called Pomodoro Technique. You do work for 25 minutes and then get a 5-minute break. This keeps the students in shape and gives them enough rest to keep their productivity high, allowing for faster learning. Howard himself was the one to advise the teachers of the method.

With that, Mrs. Roy sits down and grabs a book out of her bag. With her eyes on the pages, she starts to read them. Marco turned to Vice, the 15-year-old he was talking to earlier. They started to talk once again, picking up where they left off.

"Anyways, like I was saying, have you ever gone on a boat?" Vice asked.

"No... I have not. I was a farmer boy," Marco replied in a rather shameful tone. Vice chuckled at his response.

"Well, I am going to give you heads up, you might get seasick, and have a possible chance of scurvy."

"Scurvy?"

"Yea. It's this disease that runs amok sailors who had been out for too long. It is why they always have us drink that lemon juice. They say it prevents us from contracting it." Vice advised Marco, knowing it would save his life.

"Alright, thanks for that. I didn't even know. Hey, how do you know about that?" Marco asked.

"I knew it through my uncle. He runs this boat that deals trade from this city to the smaller ones surrounding it," Vice informed Marco with pride.

"Damn. Can I come one day?" he asked.

"Oh. Sure! If he allows it that is. I will ask him." Vice replied. Marco smiled internally, happy that he found someone he can relate to. Meanwhile, Mrs.Roy looks up at the hourglass. The glass bits of sand traverse through the sand and into the bottom.

She place her book down, got up from her seat, and clapped her hands, gaining the attention of all the students.

"Alright class, our short break is up. We shall begin our lessons once again. Sit down." she said. Marco and Vice felt a little sad. The 5 minutes felt so short, shorter than before. Time usually warps in accordance with one's emotions and age.

The class went through 3 more periods before the interval arrived, with 25 minutes of studying each, following a 5-minute break. After the 4th period, the entire school was given a 30-minute interval, where people can eat and socialize.

Marco, being usually alone at home, asked Vice to accompany him to get some lunch. A request to which Vice agreed. They two walked out of the people, along with some other students, and walked on the streets to get some food.

"Say Vice, you have been here right?" Marco asked. Vice scoffed, replying.

"I live here dumb-dumb."

"Right. Do you know any place where we can eat?" he asked.

"Oh yes! Certainly! The question is though, do you have enough money?"

"Got 36 pieces of copper. Is that enough?" Marco asked. He was a little worried that he did not bring enough money with him. But Vice, however, smiled at him.

"That's enough for a full-course luxury meal! Come. I will take you to a place I know."

"Where is it?"

"It's a bakery. They have these amazing pastries, cookies, and bread, you got to try them. I recommend you try the fish pastry, fresh out of the oven. You will love it, I promise," Vice claimed. With his claim, Marco had high hopes for this place.